Pieces of Peace
by samsolace
Summary: Godric and Sookie supernaturally and spiritually connect, on a level unknown to either before. It's caused by sharing blood at his lair, after he saves everyone at the FOS church. Bill and Eric witness it all. Surprises. 5-6 chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**_AN: I wrote this for fun only and I don't own any of it. _**

**_It is my first foray into another 'verse besides Grey's Anatomy, so sorry to my Grey's fans, this is True Blood. Maybe you'll like it too, if you try it. Anyway, big smooch to y'all, I miss you. _**

**_The action takes place in the Dallas vampire lair after Godric returns and before the bomb. In this AU, Sookie is the long haired, natural blond, blue eyed, large bosomed, wasp waisted, genuine Southern Belle, that I see in my head when I imagine Sookie, as per Ms Harris. I have been reading her work for years, and have had that Sookie deeply entrenched in my head, long before the HBO series started. She bears zero resemblance to Ms Paquin, (who, I confess, I don't care for in the role). She also is quite aware of her own attraction to Eric as well as to Bill. She does not "hate" Eric. That seems strange to me on the series. Who could hate Eric? The others are pretty much as they are in the HBO series. It will be a very short story a couple chapters long._**

**_I hope y'all enjoy this enough to leave me a word to two on the review. ; ) sam_**

**Pieces of Peace**

Slowly, gracefully (for a human), in spite of her injuries, Sookie Stackhouse side stepped through the crowd centered around Godric, quite aware that the vampires she slid between followed her with hot, hungry, and sometimes curious eyes. They barely moved out of her way, so that she was forced to brush against their hard bodies, leaving her tantalizing, delicious "other" scent. Predatory vampire nostrils flared as they sucked in enough air to delicately taste her bouquet as she passed among them. Sookie smiled brightly, self consciously ignoring both the interested vampires and their jealous human pets and companions.

_Y'all really have no need to worry, _she thought as one scantily clad fang banger sent her a particularly vicious glare, _I'm not interested in picking up another vampire admirer. Lord knows, I have a few too many already. _

_The vampires in this nest are just curious about me because I found Godric, _Sookie uneasily reassured herself._ Most of them never expected it. They didn't really believe my gift would do the trick. _She'd proven the value of her telepathy and most vamps had an eye to the bottom line, yeah, she knew that also.

_They're not really hungry just for me,_ she told herself again and again, feeling the increasing waves of vampire glamor fruitlessly sweeping over her from vamps all over the room.

The humans' reactions, however, were harder to rationalize away. She was too tired, beat up, and traumatized by the last few days to keep up her normal mental barriers, so she heard the humans' every thought ...

_Why is_ she _so special?! Not a bite on her anywhere and that face! all battered... Look at that bitch – all uppity ... She's thinks she's all that!! ... I need a taste, just one more, just one, please, God, make Ryan give me one more lick ... That dress! Target must have had a sale ... _She_ never looks at _me_ that way ... what is it about _her_? ... I think that girl's retarded or somethin', that's a crazy smile ... It's the big boobs, I need to get big boobs ..._

The snide, whining, jealous cacophony in her head rose louder and louder as she passed through the crowd until her inane smile stretched tightly across her face in a frozen grimace. Finally, beaten to a mental pulp, grace gone, Sookie stumbled into the respectfully maintained inner space around the powerful, two thousand year old vampire. Sookie nervously tugged at her short skirt, and leaned forward into Godric's immense vampiric mental quiet, sighing thankfully.

"Godric?" Sookie said very, very softly, knowing he would hear, even though his head was bowed and his eyes were closed in meditation, it seemed, "You asked for me?"

She gulped nervously, and she fought not to fidget, when he raised his head in response, staring at her through fathomless dark eyes, his ancient, young, white face absolutely expressionless. Frissons of fear and excitement slid icily up her spine and she couldn't stop herself from instinctively looking around the room for Bill. It was just her luck that Bill had been called from the room by Isabel, Godric's lieutenant, just before Godric had summoned her. But, surely, by now, Bill felt her need of him?

_Bill will be here any second,_ she told herself, glancing around once more for her man – uh, vampire.

Her eyes lighted on Eric instead, all six foot five of him, leaning with his arms crossed in absolute stillness against a bookcase. A slight smile crossed his face and he winked. Sookie blinked in surprise, her quaking, cold insides warming, and then jerked her attention back to Godric when he spoke.

"Ah, Miss Stackhouse, yes. Please sit beside me," Godric said in his slightly accented English. He waved an elegant hand, tattooed with ancient blue designs, to indicate the modern, white couch cushion beside him.

Instantly, the interest in the room ramped up. Godric had primarily enjoyed men and boys for food, sex and companionship for over two thousand years. The only women he'd bothered with were vampire. All eyes carefully examined the battered, broken, and bruised Sookie Stackhouse again. Godric's power was such that any attention from him was noted and valued by his entire nest.

Godric hadn't consented to make a vampire in over seven hundred years, even though Isabel and others had urged him to, worried that he was becoming too alone, even inside the nest. A newborn would have given him an interest to combat the terrible ennui that eventually overcame ancient vampires. All vampire eyes switched from Godric, to the human, to Godric. The Sheriff had been so odd lately. No one in the room, except Eric and Sookie, gave credence to the idea that Godric was suicidal. No. They looked to another idea. Was he finally planning to make another? The girl from Louisiana was another gorgeous, blue eyed, blond - like Eric, and Godric's other nestlings - but she belonged to Bill Compton. Every vampire in the house stood very still in contemplation.

"Thank you, please call me Sookie," Sookie's southern manners took over as she painfully sat next to the ancient youth, smoothing her skirt under her hips and crossing her legs, before carefully stacking her hands, one on top of the other, over her raised knee. Her beautifully displayed legs and high heeled feet drew many admiring looks from both humans and vampires.

"Sookie," for a brief moment Godric smiled boyishly after he pronounced her name, silly to him, she was sure. Then, light as a feather, he traced a fingertip over her broken collar bone, a spark of blood hunger in his dark eyes.

"Broken from being dragged down the basement steps and questioned, or broken from Gabe attempting to rape you?" he asked as if asking the weather, not at all concerned with asking a private question in a public space.

_Everything and everyone here _is_ his, after all,_ Sookie reminded herself.

"The fall down the stairs," Sookie stuttered a little, more than a little terrified by Godric's flaring nostrils and questing touch. It was as if he were touching all her hurts at once – and then he did. Sookie held her breath and froze in self preservation at the first delicate stroke.

That one questing fingertip frosted over her bruised lips, eyelids and cheekbone, slid down her side to her mightily bruised ribs, barely tapped her two broken fingers and then traced the outside of her thighs until he sighed at the last, "And the inside of your thighs, of course. He was brutal."

Fangs sprang out in mouths all over the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay! Comments rock. Thanks, everyone.  
**

**Chapter 2**

Sookie gulped and stared at Godric, her senses and mind easily and completely dominated by his ancient presence. His vast, immeasurable silence enfolded her like her Gran's loving arms, and Sookie's eyelids dropped to half mast, tension and terror draining from her sore muscles. Far from being afraid of Godric, Sookie relaxed for the first time since she'd nearly been raped -- for the first time since Gran was murdered -- for the first time since her parents had drowned. She sank more deeply into the upholstery and naturally leaned closer to the source of the comforting quiet, Godric.

Godric slipped the edge of his tattooed hand under Sookie's chin and leaned even closer to look into her eyes. Their lips were a mere breath apart, riveting the onlookers. Sookie remained perfectly still and calm at Godric's caress and close evaluation, but now, feeling she was enthralled by Godric's immense charisma and silence as surely as if she were held by his glamor, Sookie forced her voice from her dry throat, "I am Bill's."

Lashes fluttering, Sookie looked over Godric's shoulder to see Bill held in place by the much older, much stronger, Eric. Neither made a sound, though their muscles rippled and strained against each other. Dark against Light, Light against Dark, they made a strikingly beautiful tableau together. Fortunately, Eric hadn't let Bill do or say anything precipitously foolish, anything that could mortally offend Godric or his nest. Sookie gave a tiny, gentle shake of her head, informing both of the vampires that she was still fine and she didn't need help yet. Both Bill and Eric relaxed marginally.

Godric noticed the tiny communique, of course. Was there anything he didn't notice? He glanced over his shoulder and invited calmly, "Mr. Compton, Eric, please advance."

The two vampires glided into the inner circle and stood in front of Godric and Sookie, saying nothing, waiting for the Sheriff to speak.

"Is this true, Mr. Compton? Is this human yours?" Godric asked simply.

"Yes, Sheriff," Bill's voice was an unfriendly growl, indicating the extent of his displeasure with Godric.

The ghost of a boyish grin once more dimpled Godric's sunken cheeks for a split second, just before his eyes darkened and a frown furrowed his brow.

"Then why is she so neglected, vampire? It has been hours since we left the church and you have not seen to her wounds," Godric's beautiful mouth turned down at the corners.

Whatever Bill had expected, it hadn't been Godric's chastisement. He opened his mouth as if to speak and then closed it again when he saw Sookie instinctively shaking her head. Godric and Eric and a dozen other vampires observed that little byplay with no understanding, but several of the human girls, dotting the room, nodded. Godric arched an eyebrow and continued to wait for an answer.

"Oh, please, Sheriff," Sookie burst out, "it was me! I couldn't bear it. I didn't want Bill to touch me ... not after ... I just need a little time, is all," she finished lamely, aware that the other vampires in the crowd were contemptuous of Bill's indulgence with her.

She'd cleaned and bandaged what she could on her own but she hadn't been able to take Bill's blood. She didn't even want Bill to touch her right now – too much male, too much vampire. Only the anesthesia of Godric's oceanic silence had let her tolerate his brushing finger.

Very faint surprise touched Godric's face and then enormous suffering surfaced. It was so fleeting Sookie would have missed it if she hadn't been so captivated by Godric's serenity that she was staring straight at him again. With great temerity and with a long indrawn breath she took Godric's raised hand in both of hers, knowing she was breaking some kind of vampire custom when Bill hissed, "Sookie!"

Sookie and Godric ignored him. Eric merely crossed his arms over his chest again and watched them, seemingly completely absorbed by Godric and Sookie's every word, every movement. He soaked in every nuance, missing nothing, his eyes locked on their intertwined hands.

"Godric, thank you for saving my sanity and my life. I owe you more than I can say. If there is any way I could ... I don't know ... help you ...?" Sookie said bravely, looking deeply into Godric again – his pain, his suffering.

Despite what the general consensus was in Bon Temps, Sookie wasn't stupid. She knew that Godric was a murderer hundreds, perhaps thousands of times over. He was an ancient of over two thousand years. She knew that he'd committed other atrocities. Her head knew it. But her heart, the heart fostered by her bold, loving Gran all these years, felt something else. She felt Godric's spiritual evolution to peace. He'd risen above both his human life as a Roman slave and his vampire life as a fierce predator. To her very bones she knew who Godric was _now_. She thought her heart would break for him.

Godric didn't pull away from her and again there was the merest hint of surprise on his smooth features.

"And what can a battered young human girl offer me?" he almost breathed as he leaned so close Sookie had no trouble seeing the beautiful flecks of peridot green in his brown eyes. For the first time with Godric, she felt a wave of magical glamor wash around and over her. The hair on the back of her neck literally stood up in primal reaction to his predatory menace and unearthly beauty. Bill growled, and faintly amused, Godric sat back shrugging. Sookie felt mesmerized by the rippling ancient blue tattoos glowing on Godric's chest.

"Well, I ..." Sookie's thoughts squirreled around trying to find an answer.

"Are you quite taken with Mr. Compton?" Godric drawled slowly, turning his hand in hers and gripping gently. Several vampires who had been facing the other direction turned now to stare openly, dropping all pretense of not listening. Godric had drawn all their attention. Vampires didn't ask human preferences – not in public anyway. It was the vamp that mattered, after all. And Sookie was forcefully reminded of Eric asking Bill something similar at Fangtasia.

"Of course – he's mine as much as I'm his," Sookie answered very quietly, but every vampire in the room heard her and hot eyes shifted between Sookie and Bill this time. Eric was the only one who smiled enigmatically at that.

"You are ... in love ... with him – a vampire?" the word "love" came oddly to Godric's pale lips, but he imbued it with more multi-level meaning than Sookie had ever heard.

"Yes," Sookie nodded, "but, Godric, I'm confused," she dared to question him, "what Bill and I have between us can't be all that interesting to you. Can it? Bill's not even one of your nest."

"You have offered me 'help'," he said with an inflection that told Sookie beyond a shadow of a doubt that Godric was aware she understood his mindset and intentions, "You've done this after already infiltrating the Fellowship, at great danger to yourself, on my behalf. You interest me, when nothing has in years. Perhaps you'll consent to entertain me?"

"Entertain you?" Sookie had a wild passing vision of what had constituted "entertainment" for Malcolm, Diane and Liam, but she kept her face absolutely still, giving nothing away, courtesy of years of hiding the fact that she knew what others were thinking.

"Eric tells me you're a mind reader. Only once before have I met a human like you. And he was killed before we spoke. Tell me what it's like." Godric's face remained still, but his brow arched again. Eric and Bill seemed to lean in without really moving, as did others.

"It's noisy," Sookie answered with no hesitation and a small laugh, trying to put the long ago death of a man who'd been like her out of her mind, "and insulting, and boring."

"Hmm, is it really?" Godric studied her with single minded intensity, "Explain."

"Well ... human thoughts never stop. Blah, blah, blah about nothin' most of the time. And when there's a lot of people together it all overlaps like dozens of radio stations playin' at once. It's loud and noisy and obnoxious and meaningless. When it's just me and a couple others, I have to hear every nasty, mean, horrible thought they have about me and everybody else. I guess I have to say it gets mighty confusing too, because the words in their heads hardly ever match the words they're saying. I have to fight every minute just to keep everybody out of my head, so I get real tired sometimes."

"And vampires? What do their minds sound like?" Godric asked, and then at a slight movement from Bill, waved to the couch behind Eric. Both Bill and Eric sat at Godric's whim and once again Sookie was reminded how much power he wielded.

"Totally quiet ... peaceful," Sookie said and turned her head to smile at Bill, "That was the first thing that attracted me to Bill. I can rest and just be myself without knowing every single thought that strays across his mind. I can actually date him. I've never quite been able to carry that off with a human guy. It's such a relief not having to work all the time, believe me. In spite of all the gross blood stuff and fangs, vampires are almost easy compared to humans."

Godric's smile was bemused, "That's a first, I think, vampires are "relaxing, peaceful, and easy"."

Eric snickered.

Bill groaned, "Sookie!" with an extra long "ee" sound.

Then Godric drew her attention again, licking his pale lips, "And me, Sookie? What is it like for you to be with me?"

Sookie's eyes glazed over as she once more dove into the black ocean of peace that was Godric's vast, blessedly silent mental body. Her face and body actually slackened, her weight sinking into the couch, with only Godric's hand providing a balance point. The vampires watched, fascinated, as the girl's eyelashes brushed her cheeks and her head drooped. Sookie was lost in an infinite place of peace and calm. She breathed deeply, a tiny smile kissing her lips, feeling every cell replenish with life and rest. At no other time in her life could she recall having this much comfort. Silence surrounded her. Even her own thoughts seemed very far away. She swam, at last, mentally naked.

With an ancient vampire's extreme patience Godric waited, forcing everyone to wait. Only the other humans shifted uncomfortably in the next twenty minutes. Every vampire remained quiet and still, letting Sookie come back in her own time, but watching her, fascinated.

"Comfortable," Sookie finally whispered, "being with you is light and free. You know how vampire blood heals bodies? It's like that; your silence heals my mind. Thank you so much."

Her eyes cracked open and she slowly straightened up and looked around in confusion and embarrassment, "I'm so sorry, Godric, it's hard not to slide right off the couch into your mind."

"No matter. It's also hard not to slide into you," and on the last word Godric's fangs snicked into place, long and thin and sharp.

Even as Bill hissed, Godric punctured his own thumb on a fang and brushed the welling drop of two thousand year old blood over Sookie's dented cheekbone. She reeled a little and her head swam as her black eye and cheekbone healed in less than two seconds.

"You say I have done you valuable service this day?" Godric asked serenely.

"Yes, of course," Sookie answered honestly, once more ignoring Bill's distrust of Godric.

"Then you must owe me something," Godric suggested, his face back to completely expressionless calm.

"She was in the basement of the Fellowship of the Sun because she was looking for you in the first place, Sheriff. She doesn't owe you a thing." Bill stated grimly, definitely not liking where this was going. He was all too aware of how delicious Sookie looked and smelled in her tiny dress that showcased her bare, sunny arms and legs, luscious breasts, and blond, blue eyed beauty – vampire bait, indeed.

"Bill," Sookie said reproachfully, her voice and her insides shaking with the visceral memory of the attempted rape, even as she maintained her habitual poker face, "You weren't there. You don't know. I do owe Godric."

Bill hung his head at that reminder, struggling to hide his inner torment. He hadn't been there when Sookie had needed him most. Lorena, his maker, not only had destroyed his life, she was trying to destroy his undeath.

"Godric, I've never done this with anyone except Bill," Sookie started hesitantly, "but I know you haven't eaten for days ... maybe weeks ... and I know I am not your usual preference ... but Bill says I taste special." Sookie gulped as she spiraled around her point.

Then she forged ahead, before she could lose her nerve, "You are ... welcome to my blood... O pos... I don't have anything else to ... just ... no draining, no vamp making, no neck,and no sex," she finished in a rush.

"Sookie! No!" Bill exclaimed, rising to his feet again and pacing two steps forward before being brought to a sudden halt by Isabel and Farrell, two of the highest ranking vamps in the nest.

"Relax, Mr. Compton," Godric sighed and waved Bill back to his couch, noticing Eric staring at Sookie in extreme surprise at the same time. Godric's face softened as he looked at Sookie again. "though the offer is quite generous, I must refuse. Sookie, you will do something else for me."

"I will?" Sookie asked, surprised.

"Yes, I will not take your blood ... but you will take mine. Yes, you and Mr. Compton will please oblige me in this. This is the 'payback' I ask of you. I can not have the wounds you sustained in seeking me continue to pain you ... yes ... come now." Godric coaxed, "You will enter my 'comforting silence', you will forget that I am male and vampire, and you will heal. As Sheriff I command it."

Godric bit the side of his hand and pulled Sookie around, closer to him, with frightening, effortless ease. She tried to protest again, even as his peace engulfed her mind. But Bill nodded, and Godric merely lay his hand to her lips. He clenched his fist and blood spurted into her mouth giving her no choice. She closed her eyes and sank against Godric, using his blue lined shoulder to pillow the unbruised side of her face. She swallowed and swallowed again, until within seconds, V directly from the undead two thousand year old vampire's body coursed through her system. And for the first time in her life Sookie experienced physical, emotional, mental and spiritual nirvana. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she all but fainted. She had to grab Godric's arm with both hands.

"Ah ..." the crowd couldn't help the awestruck sound. Even the vampires amongst the onlookers were shocked.

Sookie's hair fell in thicker, blonder waves, snapping and sparkling with shimmering light, almost to her hips. Her skin became flawless and translucent, gorgeous under the nest's beautiful, expensive lighting. She literally glowed with health. All broken bones healed in seconds while her fingernails lengthened and strengthened into the long, slightly curved glory that waitresses at Merlotte's wanted but could never have.

Bill and Eric involuntarily exchanged glances, uncomfortable with the wonder they were feeling. Bill thought even Sookie's eyelashes had lengthened and thickened against her blood flushed cheeks, and he struggled to keep his jealousy and possessiveness at bay, since he knew Godric was right – Sookie needed the healing, whether she wanted to admit it or not. In an unusual motion for a vampire, Bill rubbed his hand against his thigh, trying to dissipate some friction. Eric never noticed.

Eric was entranced by the whole package. Sookie had started out a true Southern Belle; now she was transformed into something just that much curvier, fuller, and softer. Her sheer femininity flooded the room and matched Eric's alpha masculinity. Sookie's suddenly overwhelmingly delicious body and delectable blood called irresistibly to both his vampire essence and his manhood. Eric eyed Sookie's straining breasts and felt his fangs uncontrollably snick out.

Unaware of the effect she and Godric were having on the surrounding crowd, and feeling better than she ever had before, Sookie pressed her wrist to Godric's lips, her blue eyes flashing sapphire light, and said, "Your turn, I insist. Bill, say yes. Godric, you're white as milk."

Godric politely looked at Bill, who grudgingly forced himself to nod. Bill knew that Sookie was bent on this. She really didn't consider she needed his permission to offer up her own blood. Most of the time he liked it that she was his girlfriend, rather than his human. Today was the exception. With all his instincts screaming refusal, Bill crossed his arms over his chest and held himself very still.

Godric's lips brushed once, twice – tasting her enhanced, scented flesh – and he struck, lightening fast and sharp. Godric's marble white flesh started pinking almost immediately from Sookie's donation. She closed her eyes and bit back a moan of delight. Her mind was sated and now, with the exchange, her body was too. Godric had given her a giant piece of peace she never even knew she craved.

And then it was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Suddenly, something was horribly, terribly wrong. With a sharp rending sound inside her head, her inner peace split asunder. Suddenly, her mind jolted and her body jerked sharply in response. She trembled violently inside and out, but out of a lifetime habit, Sookie falsely smiled, hiding the truth as best she could from everyone. She tried to run the terrible shock energy slightly wild, so that Bill and Godric would only pick up excitement from her emotions and nothing else. Sookie praised the Lord when Godric finally finished by licking the wounds closed.

"So that is what a mind reader tastes like." Godric commented, curiously and carefully examining all the changes his blood had wrought in Sookie. The improvement was the difference between a win of the first place tiara or the fifth place ribbon in a beauty pageant. Godric nodded and licked his lips, "Mr. Compton is quite right. You do have an extraordinary flavor. Thank you, I feel better."

He was one of the few supernaturals who refrained from asking her "what are you?" after close contact. Sookie didn't know if she should worry about that or not. She drew another shaky breath.

With a small assist from Godric, Sookie slid back to her side of the couch and perched there, hanging on for all she was worth. Her smile stretched tight again. She deliberately tried to think cool, calm thoughts to slow her heart rate and emotional reactivity. Then the memory of her recent swim in Godric's huge mental silence came back to provide her with a calm, peaceful space.

"It is approaching dawn. Leave us. Sleep well, my nest." To Sookie's relief, Godric dismissed the hungry crowd to go eat and sleep. She watched the room clear except for Eric and Bill. Even Isabel left after a significant look from Godric. With just the three vampires left to deal with, Sookie let herself breathe a little deeper.

"Godric, we must talk," Eric insisted, choosing to compartmentalize the tantalizing, vicarious experience of blood sharing with Sookie until later, "this Fellowship!? How did they capture a vampire of your stature?"

"Sookie, we have to get back to the hotel," Bill held out a hand to command her to him, "We're done here."

"No," Godric answered both of them calmly, "Sookie and I must have a moment in private. Please excuse us."

Sookie sat back in the couch and looked at the floor. All she wanted to do was run and hide. She twisted her hands together desperately. Further time with Godric just couldn't be good. Not now. Terror tried to rise in her belly like a specter out of a grave, but she took a breath and tamped it back. Excitement, she reminded herself, not terror. Bill had a hard time distinguishing between the two if she twisted it. Excitement.

Bill and Eric protested simultaneously, "Godric!"

"Please," Godric said as a command, "Now."

Then he made Sookie's heart leap by taking her hand in his again and stroking it very, very gently.

Eric cast another look at Sookie and then abruptly nodded, "Yes, Godric."

He knelt in front of their bound hands and swiftly kissed Godric's knuckles, the way a cardinal would kiss a pope's ring. As he drew back, his head bowed, Sookie noticed that, in a lightening swift move, Eric managed to surreptitiously trace the tip of his tongue over both the fang marks on Godric's hand and the fang marks on Sookie's wrist. His smile held real pleasure this time. Godric shook his head slightly – even fondly, Sookie thought – at Eric, but said nothing. Then Eric left without waiting for Bill.

Sookie went cold. Eric had been moving at his fastest vampiric speed when he grabbed that taste. She shouldn't have been able to see his sly move at all, but she'd watched it as if at normal speed. She shivered and rubbed her bare arms, stunned at the potency of Godric's blood.

"Go, Mr. Compton. Sookie will be with you in a few moments. And close the doors after yourself."

"Yes, Sheriff."

Bill had no choice but to reluctantly go, without being able to catch Sookie's eye again. He shut the doors behind him and only then realized he could hear nothing from inside the room. It was fully soundproofed, even to vampire ears. Bill bit back a curse and strode to the kitchen for a blood. He'd have to grit his teeth and bear Godric's peculiarity.

Inside the soundproofed room Godric waited a beat and then said, "I suppose you know I am over two thousand years old?"

Sookie nodded, still looking at the floor.

"Actually, I am closer to two thousand four hundred." Godric's smile was a little sad, and he waited for Sookie to look up in surprise before he spoke again, "Tonight, I have done something that I haven't done in over three hundred years. I exchanged blood with a human – or more precisely, I should perhaps say I exchanged blood with someone other than vampire, since you and I both must acknowledge that you are more than human."

"What? No," Sookie was stunned on a couple levels, "But, what were you eating ... ?" her sentence trailed away as the significance of his emphasis on the word "exchanged". Godric had taken blood from humans all these years, but he hadn't given it. "You haven't? Then why did you insist that I drink?" then another part of what he said hit her, "I'm human. I am! Godric? G-Godric ..." Sookie stuttered in rising panic. Godric's eyes were literally glowing with an eerie light and magical mysteries seemed to thicken the air as he leaned towards her.

Then his face softened and the glow subtly altered, moment by moment, until Godric was lit from the inside out, as if a warm, generous light occupied the space that millenia ago held his beating heart. He was ethereally beautiful and heavenly lit.

"I find this weight of years to be enough," Godric said gently, "so I will leave soon. I have already assigned the nest and its businesses to Isabel, my monetary wealth to Eric, and now – my magical wealth to you – the one I've been looking for, for the last three centuries, Sookie Stackhouse."

Sookie stared at Godric, her nervous smile stretching her lips as she repeated, "Magical wealth? Looking for? Me?"

"At first, I didn't think it worked, except to make you permanently more alluring, of course." Godric said, drawing a light finger down the side of her beautiful face.

"Permanently?" Sookie couldn't seem to get her brain's needle out of the repeat groove.

"Probably. The last human I gave blood to remained youthful and beautiful until the day he died, over one hundred years later. It is one reason why I have not repeated the action since. The effects of my blood had become too noticeable and lasting.

"Vampires have different abilities that develop over the decades and centennials. Mine have always been very strong and quite unique. If just two centennials permits some vampires to fly, you can imagine what twenty four centennials has done to me." Godric paused and let that sink into Sookie's whirling brain, "I'd actually grown quite tired, and had given up on finding one such as you, but then you appeared to save me, on the very night before I would have met the sun. I see the hand of God in this. Don't you?"

"But, why, Godric? Why me? I don't understand," Sookie said, more bewildered and overwhelmed than she'd ever been in her life. She was still trying to cope with Godric with half her mind, while the other half struggled mightily to deal with the ramifications of what was going on in her head right now. No longer able to sit still, Sookie stood and paced.

"The improvements in your abilities are the result of the infusion of the magic that is me into the magic that is you through the sharing of blood and mind and ... I like to think ... soul, of course. We touched souls and now you are my magical heir," and Godric grinned boyishly, obviously completely pleased, "bearing my magical fruit."

Sookie twisted her hands and bit her lip. What was there to say to something like that?!

_You can hear everything I'm thinking now, can't you? _Godric asked in his thoughts.

_Yes, _Sookie replied in her mind automatically, and then cringed.

Godric laughed softly, _Ah, and you can send too. You are now both a sender and receiver of thoughts to all nontelepathic beings, regardless of species._

_Oh my God, Godric, my life is over. Why would you curse me this way? What have I ever done to you except try to help you? The vampires will kill me now._

_No, my dear, no curse. Draw the blinds over the window._

_What?_

_Make your curtain opaque. Put on noise canceling headphones. Whatever image works for you. It is under your control now, _Godric's thoughts were utterly serene,the images he projected were calm and disciplined.

"Under control! All I want to do is scream and my heart is racing a mile a minute! You are so ..." Sookie stopped short of yelling "nuts!" like she wanted to, but her mind did it for her, _NUTS!_ "Oh, crap!"

"Sookie, try to read my mind now." Godric waited until surprise flashed across Sookie's bright face, "See? You can't. Just do what I'm doing and then you'll be able to turn it on and off at will."

Sookie opened her mental eyes that had been shut in shock since "it" happened, and really looked at what Godric was doing mentally to keep her out. She blinked and it clicked. It was like hanging curtains on her windows. She could do it and forget about it. She no longer had to fight to hold a wall up between herself and the world. She tried taking down the curtains and it was dead easy. She put them up, took them down, put them up, took them down, easy peasy, excitement building. Then she tried a dial system. Dial the sound and images up and down and up at will. She could suddenly listen at any volume she wanted. Godric was right. She had complete control.

"Of course, the vampires are still going to kill me, Godric, but I do have some mental control I've never had before. Gee, thanks," Sookie couldn't quite keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

"You will find that you are far more difficult to kill now, too. Don't worry," Godric announced softly and sat back, a distant look coming into his eyes, as if he could see through every dimensional world and parallel space at once, "I see you, all of you, and all you are destined to become.

"Sookie Stackhouse, you are the physical embodiment of the crossroads between the magical and the mundane; the center pivot between humans and all other creatures; the heart that all vampires secretly desire once their own has stopped beating. I give you my blood and my magic freely and without reserve to do with as you will.

"Vampires need you, Sookie. You'll see. You'll help them evolve," Godric relaxed peacefully into the couch, centuries old mission accomplished at last.

Sookie trembled at his next thought, _I can die again in peace at last, now that Eric has Sookie. _


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: This story just wouldn't go the way I'd originally planned, thus the delay while I duked it out in my mind. There are unexpected twists in this chapter that even surprised me. It felt good, though, in the end. Expanded to five chapters with all the additions. sam **_

**Chapter 4**

Sookie said nothing to Bill. She couldn't. She just folded in on herself in the car, behind her new mental curtains, and hid. Sookie reasoned they had just enough time to get to the hotel and check on Jessica and Hoyt (who should both be asleep by now) before Bill had no choice but to sleep in their own light tight room. At under one hundred fifty years as a vampire, his ability to stay awake when the sun was up was very limited, so there wouldn't be enough time to talk about everything that had happened. As a result, Sookie paced back and forth through the dawn by herself, unable to process the transformations Godric had wrought. Bill slept the sleep of the dead while her own and Godric's parting words at the nest echoed in her mind ...

"_What?! Godric, no! You just can't leave! Not now! Not after turning me into some kind of mind reading Jiminy Cricket for vampires! And I'm not Eric's!" Sookie verged into full blown panic now. She paced back and forth, frantically wringing her hands, looking for a way out. Her grandmother had always chosen to call mind reading a gift, but Gran was alone in that perception. Everyone else, including her parents and brother, had treated Sookie like a freak her whole life. _

_She flung herself back down beside Godric, tears welling in her eyes, and begged, "Please take it back, Godric. I don't belong in vampire politics, I don't want to be changed further from human, I don't want to be able to read vampire thoughts. Please!"_

"_Sookie," Godric's voice was a soothing miracle, "I see far. All will be well ... eventually. I know you were born to this destiny. Trust me." ..._

A brief knock at the door interrupted her anxious reverie and Sookie started.

_Jason,_ she thought, relieved, _it must be Jason._

She ran to the door and flung it open without bothering with a robe. Eric nonchalantly leaned a hand on the molding over the door, pressed the side of his face against his inner elbow, and looked down the length of Sookie's diaphanous nightgown appreciatively.

"Mm, tasty," he murmured teasingly.

"Oh, Eric," Sookie said distractedly, for once not affected by his sheer animal magnetism, "I thought you were Jason."

"No, I'm definitely not your brother," Eric said with a raised brow, taking a second leisurely look.

She whirled around self consciously and whipped on a robe while Eric laughed.

"Eric, what are you doing here? For that matter, what are you doing up?" asked Sookie in exasperation. She instinctively dropped an inner curtain and then she knew. Her face pokered up immediately to hide that she'd read Eric's thoughts.

"Couldn't sleep. Isn't that what humans say?" Eric mocked both of them as he pointedly watched her pace agitatedly back and forth, "I am over a millennium old. I can stay up much later into the day than young vampires. In any case, I see you couldn't sleep either. Perhaps you'll join me in the wet area to talk."

Sookie knew that Eric had deliberately waited until Bill was asleep before knocking on the door. He was worried about Godric, and there was very little that Eric wouldn't do, including enlisting her aid once again, even in daylight, to help him. Since Eric wanted to talk about the very thing that was keeping Sookie awake, she simply nodded at him without the resistance he obviously expected. She waved Eric to sit in the suite's salon and quietly padded barefoot into the bedroom to change into the bikini she'd optimistically brought.

She may as well use the hotel's popular relaxation spot now because it was a sure bet she wouldn't with Bill. They had to go to Godric's nest again the next night, and then their whole party, including Jason, was headed back to Bon Temps the following morning, Bill and Jessica safely enclosed in coffins. Sookie saw that Bill still slept like the dead in their bed, but she pulled the sheet a little higher over his shoulders and smoothed his hair. Then, sighing, she covered back up in the hotel's robe, slid her feet into flip flops, and joined Eric.

Silently, each engrossed in his own thoughts, the pair made their way down to Hotel Carmilla's "wet area". It was an indoor, light tight conservatory complete with hot tub grotto, pool, and small waterfall. There were a few human companions there when Sookie and Eric arrived, but at his silent command they instantly left, recognizing the rank of a vampire awake in the day.

Sookie scowled, "You don't have to be so high handed all the time, Eric. They wouldn't have bothered us."

Eric shrugged, "I prefer seclusion."

Without further preamble, Eric stripped to a pair of black shorts and slid into the hot tub. As his only concession to the rising sun, he leaned back on a neck rest and closed his eyes.

Sookie cast a doubtful look at the Viking lolling in the water before she decided to go ahead, cast off her robe, and join him. She almost moaned as she sank luxuriously into the hot, foaming water, but bit it back, glancing a little nervously at Eric again. It seemed so weird to be here with him like this. Godric had somehow become a common concern binding them together and Sookie had never expected that.

"I believe Godric actually planned to let those savages tie him outside at dawn," Eric began abruptly, his eyes opening just enough to see her, "It's completely unconscionable, but there it is. Did he say anything to you at the nest about this?" Suddenly, without moving very much at all, Eric's demeanor became quite menacing as he came to his point.

"Eric ...," Sookie hesitated, unsure what to say.

"You are still working for me, Sookie Stackhouse, and Bill Compton lives in my area, at my volition. I want to know everything Godric said to you – now." Eric had apparently decided a heavier hand was needed with her.

"Eric, I like and respect Godric very much. You don't have to threaten me to get me to help him." This time, irritated with him, Sookie didn't hesitate. "I think Godric still plans to meet the dawn soon, with or without the Fellowship of the Sun. I tried, believe me, I tried, right up to the last minute, to talk him out of it last night. I don't know what else anyone can do ... even you."

Eric studied her silently and Sookie didn't have to use her new ability to know that he was assessing what she'd said. Sookie chose her own neck rest, closed her eyes, and drifted, the adrenaline of the last three days crashing and exhaustion replacing it. They were once again silent, each trying to think of a way to help Godric and prevent his tragic loss.

Finally, Sookie relaxed so much she thought she would sleep if she went back to bed, so she climbed out of the tub.

"Sookie," Eric murmured, "If you find a way to change Godric's mind, I will owe you a favor – a big favor. Find a way."

"Eric ..." Sookie shook her head a little, knowing she wouldn't be able to help, "I'll ... try."

ooooo

Bill ushered Sookie, Jessica, and Hoyt into Godric's enclave, grimly determined to do his duty and then leave as early as possible in spite of Jessica and Sookie's excitement at being invited to a vampire-human party. He tried not to be irritated at how young all three of his companions were, as they oohed and aahed at everything.

"Jessica, Sookie, they have Tru Blood and mixed drinks at the bar. May I get you something?" Hoyt cheerfully offered.

"A bottle of B negative for me, Hoyt. Thank you," Jessica smiled and stroked his arm, happy with him.

"Just a Coke for me, Hoyt," Sookie added, "Thanks."

"Vampire Bill?"

"Nothing, thanks," Bill growled gruffly, shifting uneasily.

Bill watched Hoyt make his way easily through the crowd and was annoyed all over again. Hoyt treated Jessica with exactly the same courtesy as he treated Sookie. The boy just didn't understand that Jessica was new vampire. He had no caution at all.

"Bill." Sookie's low tone made a statement of his name, telling him to calm down. She didn't dare say more when they were within hearing of every vampire in the nest, as well as Eric. She watched Bill shrug in response, but some of his grouchiness faded, and he moved forward to speak with Isabel as soon as she looked up and waved him over.

Sookie took Jessica and Hoyt around the room after that, introducing them to some of the vampires and humans she'd formerly met. Once again speculative eyes followed Sookie, curiously studying her, and then her companions. Both Sookie and Hoyt were very unusual in their calm, respectful, yet not obsequious, manner with vampires. Jessica also raised more than a few eyebrows with her obvious, rather sweet relationship in which Hoyt, the human, was the dominant partner.

Finally, Gran's well trained good manners demanded that Sookie take the others to pay their respects to Godric. Sookie daringly opened her mind to his and quietly asked for an audience. _Godric, I have a young couple with me who are anxious to meet you. May we approach?_

_I suppose I should get some benefit out of my new mind bend, _she thought wryly behind closed mental curtains afterward.

Without making an outward sign Godric invited them over. _Of course, mind reader, you are always welcome to me. _Sookie could tell her inner discomfort was amusing Godric again. _It is what you are, after all, is it not?_

_Godric, best not to speak too much about that, even in our heads. For a two thousand year old vampire you still have a lot of naivety. How did that happen? _Sookie protested a little sharply. He took her situation far too lightly.

"Godric, this is Jessica, Bill's progeny, and our friend, Hoyt." Once again Godric's thoughts were quiet and his vast peace beckoned to Sookie. It was all she could do not to fall in as she introduced the young couple. "Jessica, Hoyt, this is Godric, Eric's maker, and sheriff of this territory."

"And new friend to young Sookie," Godric added, his eyebrow quirking at her. Sookie swayed a little on the edge of his enormous inner tranquility. Then she sharply drew herself back and glared at Godric. Darn, how seductive could one vampire be? He chuckled in her mind, his peridot flecked brown eyes sparkling.

"Pleased to meetcha," Jessica and Hoyt chorused in unison, smiling shyly at Godric, as would any young couple in the South with good manners.

"You are welcome in the nest," Godric's face showed nothing, but Sookie was aware that he was mildly amused by Jessica and Hoyt.

_We're all just providing you a laugh a minute, aren't we? _Sookie thought grumpily. Godric's mind rippled and she caught a glimpse of his appalling, endless, long term loneliness and ennui. She gasped, horrified, and then said shamefacedly, _Sorry, I'm still trying to adjust, and it's making me grumpy._

_I understand, _even Godric's mental voice was soft and elegantly refined. It was all Sookie could do not to hang her head, after she'd been so rude.

"Thank you," the young couple chorused again, causing Jessica to giggle, and grin up at Hoyt. This time a ghost of a smile crossed Godric's chiseled lips. He actually liked them, although he once again quashed his smile and presented a facade of complete indifference. Sookie supposed that Godric had learned that style of governance over decades of dealing with the hundreds of all varieties of vampires in his territory.

Sookie carefully listened to Godric's thoughts and inner convictions as the couple chattered to him. As far as she could tell Eric's hopes to avert Godric's demise were doomed. Godric fully intended to meet the next sun up. Sadly, this party was his last goodbye to his nest.

_It's such a waste,_ Sookie thought as she scrambled for any idea that could save Godric from himself.

"Mr. Compton," Godric nodded in acknowledgment to Bill as he joined them, "Your progeny is delightful and I can see she shares your good taste in humans."

Bill, as usual, very controlling with Jessica, had rushed nervously over to join them before she or Hoyt made a mistake with the most powerful vampire he'd ever met. He also didn't like to see Sookie with Godric, instinctively recognizing and resenting their odd fascination with each other.

Before Bill could answer Godric politely, and then firmly steer his group away from the sheriff, a dark haired human making a disturbance near the front door drew everyone's attention, vampire and human alike.

_BOMB! s_creamed into Sookie's head from everywhere at once, stunning her mentally and freezing her physically.

"Down!" Godric shouted the command.

In a lightening burst of speed, he slammed Jessica, Hoyt, Isabel, Jason, and six human companions to the ground before the homemade bomb exploded into a firestorm of wood and metal shrapnel. Bill dove over Sookie, forcing her to the ground, and covering her. With Sookie's mental guards completely down, she heard the ferocious, crazy, hate filled thoughts of the human crowd rushing to surround the bombed out building. They were what was left of the Fellowship of the Sun and they fully intended to follow up the bombing by trying to kill any survivors. Their automatic guns were loaded with regular ammunition, but their rifles and handguns had wooden bullets.

"They're outside!" Sookie screamed, unsure if anyone would hear her over all the other screams in the blast area, "The Fellowship! They have guns!"

Snarling, Bill sprang to his feet, nearly berserk with blood lust from all the ravaged bodies in the room. He whirled, ready to charge the attackers. Gunfire, as devastating as the bomb, riddled the building. Bill caught three wooden bullets in the chest and staggered back.

"Bill! No!" Sookie screamed to him in the split second before he burst, his blood spurting all over her, even as he smiled sadly and died again. Sookie screamed again, and Bill's blood filled her mouth. She convulsively swallowed and swallowed again, as she had once before when Longshadow had burst over her. Her hair, clothes, and skin were soaked in blood.

Jessica screamed and screamed again, as if her soul was being ripped from her this time instead of just her life. She senselessly snarled and bit at Godric, who held her firmly pressed to the floor. Jessica would attack and try to kill anything that moved in this feral state, even Hoyt.

Mindlessly, Sookie staggered up, intent on going to her, only to be slammed back down into the bloody pool of her former lover by Eric. His head bowed over Sookie's and for a moment their eyes met. The horrible, chaotic world subsided into the warm, shimmering mist that was Eric's inner nature. Sookie slid more deeply into Eric, unexpectedly finding genuine solace and comfort from her grief. She closed her eyes and pressed her face into his throat as the next blast of automatic weapon fire completed the destruction of Godric's home. Sookie felt Eric's body jerk three times as bullets hit.

"Eric!" Sookie moaned.

"They're silver, not wood, and they missed my heart, _min __älskling_," Eric said grimly, cocking his ear to listen to the screams of the humans outside being torn asunder by every able bodied vampire of the nest except Isabel, who helped the wounded, fangs out, but otherwise totally in control of herself.

Eric rolled to his back taking Sookie with him, both of them bathed in Bill's blood.

"Sookie, the bullets, suck them out," Eric ordered weakly.

"Ew, Eric, no," Sookie said and then looked up when Jessica screamed frantically again, reminding her that Bill was lost, "I have to go to her and Jason could be hurt."

"Silver..." Eric collapsed back on the floor, unconscious.

"Oh! Drat! Eric, you son of a ..." Sookie trailed off as she leaned over to suck the first silver bullet from Eric's throat. She couldn't lose anyone else today. She just couldn't. At first she tasted a mixture of Bill, her heart contracted, and Eric and then it was all Eric, hot and exciting. She spat out the first bullet and started on the second one in his chest drinking more of Eric's hot, thousand year old blood.

_Between Bill, Godric, Eric and Longshadow, it will be a miracle if all this blood doesn't convert me,_ Sookie thought numbly.

She hesitated over the last bullet in Eric's chest, but his large hand cupped her head and guided it down until her lips touched the wound. She glanced up at him and met his eyes as she sucked the bullet out. His blood flowed down her throat and his need for more pounded at her. She spat the bullet out and froze as Eric licked her face clean, linking them through not only Godric's and his own blood, but Bill's too. Sookie drowned helplessly in Eric's intensity, aroused in spite of everything.

"No!" she heard Hoyt shout, "You can't! Please save her!"

Sookie landed back in Dallas with a thump. She pushed off of Eric, glaring at him, and stumbled over the rubble to where Godric held Jessica.

"Sookie," Godric said calmly, "I must slay her. Without her sire to control her ravenous, animalistic impulses she'll go on a killing spree that won't stop until one of us takes her down. Better to do it now before anyone else is hurt."

"Jessica," Sookie whispered, looking into the crazed, vacant eyes of the girl who'd lost her first life because of her. Like it or not, Jessica was all that was left of Bill. Sookie had to save Jessica's second undead life if she could.

"No, Godric! Let me. I can bring her back. Please, let me try!" Sookie pleaded, her heart breaking for Bill again, ignoring the other vampires who muttered they should kill the young one now and why was Godric talking about it to the blond human anyway?

_Godric, I can reach her mind to mind. You know I can. Please._

Godric and all the humans and vampires gathered around stared at Sookie with expressions ranging from disbelief to skepticism to annoyance.

_Please._

"All right, Sookie, I will hold her. You save her," Godric raised both eyebrows in quiet expectation.

_Boy and howdy,_ Sookie thought, _what have I done now?!_


End file.
